According to the National Recycling Coalition (NRC), Washington, recent commentary titled “Recycling Makes Greenies go Gaga, but it's a Real Burden for the Rest of us” by William F. Shughart II, research director and senior fellow at the Independent Institute, “is replete with unfounded assumptions, gross generalizations and false statements that are dangerously misleading.”

Shughart’s column appeared on the Independent Institute’s website as well as in Newsday, the Sacramento Bee, the Providence (Rhode Island) Journal, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and other newspapers in mid- and late December 2015.

“We at the National Recycling Coalition know that recycling makes sound environmental policy, as well as sound business practice, resulting in significant environmental and economic benefits within our local communities, across the country and throughout the globe,” the organization’s board of directors writes in response to Shughart’s column. “It is an undisputed truth that more Americans—and more manufacturers—recycle today than in past decades, and they do so for good reason.”

The NRC continues, “If, in fact as Shughart asserts, ‘the costs associated with the process of recycling almost always outweigh the benefits,’ why do manufacturers around the world rely on recycled metal, paper, plastic and other commodities for meeting nearly 50 percent of their raw material needs? Here in the U.S., steelmakers rely on iron and steel scrap—processed from items as diverse as automobiles, household appliances, demolished bridges and old machinery—to make roughly two-thirds of the steel produced in the country every year. One-third of the U.S. aluminum supply comes from soda cans, aluminum siding and other forms of aluminum scrap.

“And paper? Shughart’s statement that ‘it’s more expensive and more resource-intensive to recycle old paper than to cut and pulp pine trees …” is patently false. If it were true, why would the U.S. paper industry rely on recovered fiber produced from such items as old newspapers, magazines, catalogs, office paper and used corrugated boxes for more than half of their supply need today? And yes, paper mills are beating down the door to buy quality scrap paper,” the NRC writes.

The NRC also takes issue with Shughart’s assertion that landfilling is better than recycling, noting that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says hazardous air pollutants have been found in uncontrolled landfill gas and that landfills are the third largest source of human-related methane emissions in the U.S.

Additionally, the NRC writes, using recycled feedstock instead of virgin material reduces the production of carbon dioxide by significantly saving the amount of energy needed to manufacture products.

“A true cost comparison of recycling and landfilling must examine the full costs of those services on a program by program basis,” the NRC writes. “There is great variation across the country. Researching the costs of each program requires an analysis of curbside collection and processing/management costs—however, the majority of recycling programs offer opportunities for revenues to offset some recycling costs—waste to landfill offers no such opportunity.”

The NRC says recycling creates jobs and stokes the economy by “supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country and generating $11.2 billion in tax revenues for the federal, state and local governments.” According to the organization, “Every 10,000 metric tons of recyclables generates 37 jobs, which equates to $1.1 million in wages and $330,000 in tax revenues.”

The NRC adds that resource conservation is a major benefit of recycling that often is not taken into account.

“When one looks at the facts, it is clear that recycling makes much more sense than burying or burning our waste,” the NRC writes. “

A Shred Ahead purchases Tucson, Arizona, company

A Shred Ahead, a document destruction company headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, has acquired Arizona Verified Information Destruction (AVID) of Tucson, Arizona.

AVID is a mobile document destruction business serving customers throughout the Tucson area. As a Better Business Bureau (BBB) accredited business and a member of the Phoenix-based National Association for Information Destruction (NAID), AVID has been among the top Tucson document destruction companies for many years, according to A Shred Ahead.

The acquisition allows A Shred Ahead to serve the Tucson metropolitan area. The company says existing AVID customers will experience no gaps in service or support as a result of the purchase.

A Shred Ahead co-owner John Chapman, says, “We chose AVID because we believe they shared our commitment to excellence, and we look forward to making sure we pick up where they have left off. Customers in Tucson now have a new go-to document destruction company: A Shred Ahead.”

In just over a dozen years, A Shred Ahead has grown from serving the document destruction needs of customers in the Raleigh, North Carolina, area and to become one of the largest independent paper shredders in the Southeast and beyond. A Shred Ahead now serves customers in 12 states throughout the southern United States, and the company says it plans to continue expanding its coverage going forward.

WestRock CEO receives ASPI 2016 Customer Executive of the Year Award

Steve Voorhees receives recognition for his efforts to increase the benefits of the goods and services his company supplies.

Steve Voorhees, CEO of WestRock, Norcross, Georgia, has been named the Association of Suppliers to the Paper Industry (ASPI) Customer Executive of the Year for 2016. Voorhees is scheduled to accept his award during the ASPI 2016 Spring Meeting, which will be Feb. 24-26, 2016, in Miami.

WestRock’s 41,000 team members support customers around the world from about 268 operating and business locations spanning North America, South America, Europe and Asia.

“Steve Voorhees has been a leader in the paper and packaging industry for many years and has helped lead the successful formation of WestRock following a merger last summer,” says ASPI President Mike Gray, area senior vice president of sales and paper business North America for Valmet. “Steve’s aspiration for WestRock is to become an unrivaled partner for companies in the paper and packaging industry, and that includes strong relationships with all of their suppliers. We look forward to recognizing his contributions to the industry and hearing from him at our Spring Meeting in Miami.”

Previously, Voorhees was chief executive officer of RockTenn. Prior to his appointment as CEO of RockTenn, he served in various executive leadership roles, including president and chief operating officer; executive vice president and chief financial officer; and chief administrative officer. Before joining RockTenn, he was in operations and executive roles at Sonat Inc., a diversified energy company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

ASPI says the Customer Executive of the Year Award is presented annually “to a customer executive who has worked diligently within his company, and with his company’s suppliers, to dramatically increase the benefits to his company of its supplied goods and services.” Nominations are accepted from ASPI member companies, with the ASPI board of directors voting on submitted nominations.

ASPI is an association of companies that supply products and services to the pulp, paper and board industry.

AF&PA highlights top advocacy priorities for 2016

The American Forest & Paper Association says it plans to work with member companies and allied industries to advance reforms, among other concerns.

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA), the Washington-based trade association for the U.S. paper and wood products manufacturing sector, has announced its top 2016 advocacy priorities. Working with member companies and allied industries, the association says it hopes to stem the tide of regulatory overreach by working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Congress and other stakeholders.

Among its leading concerns, AF&PA says it plans to promote the industry’s sustainability record and inform state and federal regulators of the industry’s progress toward improved energy efficiency, paper recovery for recycling, sustainable forestry and safety incident rates as well as decreased greenhouse gas emissions and water use.

“Paper and wood products manufacturers operate in a highly competitive global marketplace,” says AF&PA President and CEO Donna Harman. “On behalf of the more than 900,000 men and women who make our products, it is important that public policies do not impede business investment and job creation.”

AF&PA says its top 2016 advocacy priorities include:

advancing reforms that account for the cumulative regulatory burden facing manufacturers and ensure regulations are based on best available scientific and technical information through a transparent and accountable rulemaking process;

supporting recognition of biomass energy as carbon neutral and minimizing costs in the implementation of the Clean Power Plan;

defending against overreach on air and water regulations affecting the industry, including human health water quality criteria and encourage adoption of permitting modernization for National Ambient Air Quality Standards;

maintaining access to paper-based communication options for government services and information to serve the millions of Americans who either choose to forego or lack access to digital communication;

advocating for open market access for industry exports, which account for 15 percent of all shipments, through international trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and advocating against unfair international trade practices that affect paper and wood products markets;

“The exponential growth in U.S. regulations is harming many segments of our economy, including paper and wood products manufacturing. We will work in 2016 and beyond for federal and state policies that unleash the potential for American economic leadership,” says Harman. “We plan to respond vigorously to potential midnight regulations as we enter this administration’s final year and work proactively for positive change.”

Among the organization’s accomplishments over the past three years, PaintCare says the California Paint Stewardship Program handled more than 2.7 million gallons of postconsumer paint from July 2014 to June 2015, resulting in a total of more than 5.3 million gallons collected since October 2012. Most of the postconsumer paint was used as recycled-content paint or, in the case of oil-base paint, used for fuel, according to PaintCare. The group also recycled approximately 1,680 tons of plastic and metal paint cans.

“As the California program completed its third year, we’ve learned many important things to help us continue our success with this large-scale, statewide management program for leftover paint,” says Jeremy Jones, PaintCare’s West Coast program manager. “We have made much progress and look forward to seeing the results of our increased financial incentive for paint reuse.”

Additional achievements of the California Paint Stewardship Program include:

Provided 184 direct large volume pick-ups from businesses, institutions, and others that had accumulated more than 300 gallons of paint at their sites.

The California Paint Stewardship Law, supported by paint manufacturers and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2010, established the program to decrease the generation of postconsumer architectural paint, promote using up leftover paint, and manage the paint in an environmentally sound manner for collection, transportation, processing, recycling and proper disposal, PaintCare explains. There is no charge for dropping off paint at a PaintCare location.

PaintCare was established by the American Coatings Association (ACA), a trade association for paint manufacturers based in Washington, to implement paint stewardship programs on behalf of the paint manufacturers in states that have passed paint stewardship laws. Working with state and local government stakeholders, ACA passed the first paint stewardship law in the United States in Oregon in 2009, according to PaintCare. This legislation resulted in a pilot program for an industry-led program to manage postconsumer paint, the group explains.

In addition to California, PaintCare operates paint recycling programs in Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont—with the District of Columbia planned to open in 2016.

To find the nearest PaintCare drop-off locations and to learn more about the types of products that are accepted, visit www.paintcare.org.